Sheesh!

Well friends I'll try not to dwell on this but we are currently fighting ANOTHER ear infection (5th in 6 months - hello tubes!) and hand foot and mouth.  So tired of this crap, I cry uncle.  My b-day is next Saturday and you can guess what my wish is!  Ok, I'll now move to fun things because I know you must all be sick of the whining, I know I am =)

M and I went with K on a field trip about 10 days ago.  This is her and her bestie in one of the little rides.  It was at a place called Casa Bonita and has pretty bad food but fun cliff divers, rides and arcade games.  There were 54 kids on the bus under 8 and K loved having us along.

C has decided that he loves coloring.  He also loves eating crayons =)

You may be wondering what the heck is going on in this photo...yeah, I did too when M showed it to me after being outside with the kiddos.  Turns out C climbed on top of the table and assumed down dog position and K took the opportunity to check if he needed a diaper change.  Too funny!

Cuties!!!

C helping M put in some new sod. He was obsessed with the wheelbarrow and shovel.

Things around here...

I've been quite the blogging slacker!  So while not the most interesting post this is what's been going on...

This past weekend we went to the county fair.  The highlight was the petting zoo.  K loved the pony and rabbit the most. She also enjoyed watching the calf roping.  She has decided we must go back again this weekend to see the pigs and sheep that weren't there yet last weekend.  Who knows we may sneak in a pony ride and/or Ferris wheel ride while we're at it.  

We had a new virus make it's way through the house early this week.  I know you're all shocked.  Hopefully the kiddos are on the path to recovery now.  Last week we started the kids on two immune boosting things (elderberry syrup and a gummy vitamin for kids that has vit c, vit d, zinc and echinacea) in hopes we can fight off some of these things!  Anyone had luck with these, or other supplements? Fingers crossed they help us fight some of these bugs...

Wednesday K went a field trip to Eliches, a large amusement park.  She had a fabulous time.  Today she's going to "Jump City" where they have tons of trampolines.  One more month of field trips and then it's back to class time for her.  She'll move into the pre-k class in September.  Can't believe we'll be enrolling for kindergarten this winter.

The evenings are cooling off a bit quicker around here and the kids are loving time on the patio.  Cole is trying to clean the sand/water table by eating/drinking everything in it.  He's standing and cruising more and more but no signs of walking just yet.  

Some pics =)

Having a talk with the doctor at his 1 year well visit a few weeks ago.

K is loving that he can do more things with her and she is so gentle with him...makes me smile.

Who's eating sand?  This guy!

He's ONE =)

Hard to believe a year has passed since this happy, loving, sweet little man came into our lives.  We are so very lucky!  

Stats:

At a doctors appointment last week he weighed in at 23lb 15oz (87th %) and 30.5" (77th %).  He's wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 3 shoes and size 3 diapers.  He's now had three ear infections and about one virus per month since starting daycare in Oct '13. Not as bad as K had it so we're counting our lucky stars there.

Food:

He's nursing 5 times a day (5am, 7:30am, 11am, 5pm and 8pm) with an extra nursing mid afternoon on weekends. He eats three meals a day and two snacks.  He is great at feeding himself but when he's full big handfuls are pitched over the edge of his tray to the dogs. He likes most anything and eats the same thing we do for meals.

Favorite Toys:

Anything that makes noise and that he can hit on something else. 

Skills:

Crawling proficiently and starting to pull up on things.  He'll take a few steps while pushing a chair or a walker but hasn't taken any on his own.  H'es pretty wobbly so I don't think independent steps will happen too soon.  I should add that he just moved rooms at daycare and is now in with mostly walkers so that could speed up this progress significantly.  He's starting to mimic more sounds and words.  Right now he says mama, dada, dog and hi. He claps, waves, plays peek-a-boo and does "SO big".

Sleep:

Still doing great on night time sleep, typically 8:30pm to 7am with one wake-up to nurse around 4 or 5.  About 3x a week he'll wake up one other time too but we just settle him and he's usually back to sleep in less than 10 minutes.

His daytime naps at school have never been reliable but we're hoping with the move into the new room that will improve.  They lie down every day at 12:30.  On the weekends he typically takes a 1 hour morning nap and 2 hour afternoon nap.

Pictures:

Love this serious expression and the bow tie kills me =)

Such a happy, happy boy!

Ear infections suck!

C is down with another ear infection =(  His fever has hovered between 101 and 103 since Monday and he is miserable.  Sleeping flat in his crib has been a no-go for the last two nights and I'm so thankful I hadn't yet sold the rock-n-play since it's the only place he's been able to string together a few hours sleep. I really hoped summer would give us a break from these sicknesses.  I hope he's better for his b-day one week from today.  Can't believe he's almost a *gulp* toddler...wow!

This past weekend we got some family photos taken and I'll unveil them next week as part of little mans b-day post so stay tuned!  And a little teaser, he's wearing a bow tie *swoon*

Here are some recent pictures, including a few from our mini celebration on the 4th.  Hope all my bloggy buddies are doing well and are having a great start to summer!

They are loving the little mini pool

It doesn't keep C as contained as I thought it might but it's fun none the less. And as a side note, why can't both kids smile/laugh in the same photo?!

On the 4th we decided a big fireworks show might be too much for C so the kiddos sat in the wagon while we lit some small fireworks in the driveway.

They were pretty entertained and not at all afraid.

This was our biggest firework since the ones  thatshoot off the ground ones are illegal here.  It finished with some somewhat loud pops...

C was not at all amused and K was concerned about him.  M and I are bad parents because he is laughing while I'm taking a picture *LOL*  In any case we were pleased we didn't take him to a big show where the pops were sure to be much louder than on our little fountain!

After fireworks K got to hold some sparklers and throw some poppers, this was her favorite part =)

Summer!

I love this time of year!  Spending tons of time outside and enjoying the beautiful weather is the name of the game =)  Quick summary since my last post was two weeks ago (sorry!) and then the real fun...pictures.

• M hired a new assistant for work and I'm hoping this will lighten his load a bit. Since they lost an employee over a year ago he's been doing double duty =(  His Father's Day was fun, Saturday he played golf and we had lunch with my Dad.  Sunday we had a mellow day, went to DQ and just played with the kiddos.  
• K is busy on her 2-3 field trips a week and is having a blast.  Last week they hit 2 parks, an amusement park and a trampoline place.  This week two more parks and a butterfly pavilion.  Lucky girl!  She had her 4 year checkup on Monday and is 40.5" (46th%) and 40.5lb (81st%).  Her hearing and vision and the doctor said she's doing great.
• C is moving more and more.  The army crawl is happening less often and now it's mostly real crawling with pulling up to knees often.  Every once in a while he's pulling up to his feet too.  Crazy how fast they change at this age.  He (and I) got a cold this week but he's bouncing back.  He's 30" (70th%) and 22.4 lb (73rd%) right now. Zeroing in on his 1st b-day here in less than three weeks...eeek!
• Work has been really busy for me but that's good job security so no complaints.  The kids are both so fun and cute right now.  Life is really, really busy.  It seems like every minute of the day there are at least five things I should be doing.  This might explain the lack of blogging =)

M and K being pirates while I was making dinner *LOL*

 

C's first wagon ride and K being his protective big sis

 

M's new drill for Father's Day - boys and their toys!

My Dad reading to K - awe!

C's new inflatable containment for the yard.  We're foolishly hoping this will keep him from eating leaves, sticks, etc.

 

K is in heaven with the slip-n-slide, it came out the first day of summer.  Here she is mid jump!

Last Sunday we went up the Flagstaff, just outside of Boulder, for snack while we were running errands.  K declared, "We're on top of the world!" Funny girl.

Monday K had her 4 yr checkup during the hearing test.

Squink!

That's K's new word for wink since she get's confused between wink and squint =)  Love the funny little words they still use at this age.

We had a full birthday week with her party on memorial day, her actual birthday on Thursday and a dinner with my parents on Saturday.  On her actual b-day we let her pick where she wanted to eat and she chose "Old McDonald's".  Ha!  So we had dinner there, played in the play land for a bit and then came home to have yet another cupcake and give her the bike we got her.  She rode to the corner and back but is taking a while to get use to the brake when the pedal goes backwards. 

On Saturday evening my parents came over and brought pizza for dinner.  Then we enjoyed even more cupcakes. 

My Mom got her tons of clothes (5 outfits) and shoes (3 pairs) and my sister and niece picked out this adorable outfit for her too.   

All in all the b-day week was very busy and extremely fun!  Her official 4 year stats are 39 lb (79th%) and  40.5" (67th%).

In a few weeks it'll be time to start to plan C's 1st birthday.  How crazy is that?!

She's 4!

I promised pictures so here they are =)

The cupcake table, such a nice setting at our local park.  It was a beautiful day and a perfect 75 degrees.

 This was her cupcake cake and the whipped frosting was so light and yummy!  Plus it's just darn cute.

Sandwich fixins.  Might be hard to see but M made a crown serving tray that had K's name spelled out in puffy paint amongst the jewels at the top.  Such a good daddy!

We hired a face painter and all the kids really liked it.  She was really good and FAST.  She painted 16 kids in an hour.  I was pretty impressed.  K got a snowflake (for Frozen of course) on one cheek, a unicorn on the other cheek and a butterfly on her arm.

K and two of her besties from school enjoying lunch (sandwiches, gold fish, string cheese, carrots and bananas).

Everyone grabbed a string and pulled at the same time to open the pinata.  Such an improvement over the kind you hit with a stick!

All the kiddos picking out their perfect cupcake

Paddle boat ride on the coveted pink flamingo.

Opening presents at home after the party.  This was the first time we did it this way and it was so much better.  

Her favorite friend gift, a pooping dog *oh my*

Family picture from this morning since we forgot to get one at her party on Monday

She got a new bike from us and is doing a great job at learning to ride it!

This is a collage I've made of this day the last five years.  Can't believe she's already 4!

A few fun stories/notes from today:

• On the way to school I told her I loved being her mommy and she said "even when I'm misbehaving?"  A tear came to my eye.
• When given a choice for anywhere or anything she wanted for dinner she chose "Old McDonald's".
• She has an "irritated taste bug". No matter how many times I try to tell her it's "bud" not "bug" she still calls it that.  Hilarious!